(If you guys haven’t checked out our first post last December, please do so. It contains vital information about our development so far: viewtopic.php?f=4&t=14825)

Hey guys!

Today’s update will mostly be to show off what the game currently looks like in development. So lots of sexy gifs and images showing our ships, combat effects, and new planet designer.

Another thing I would first like to announce is that for personal reasons our lead client engineer has had to step back, at least for a while. This came unexpected, so we will have to reorganize our schedule a little until this has been resolved. In the meantime, we wish him the very best and hope to work with him again soon.While this came as unexpected surprise, we were already searching for an additional client engineer to join the team to help with development on a permanent basis. In the last week or two we have interviewed a lot of people, and we have found someone we really like and is just as motivated as the rest of us to work on this game!

But now on to what most of the team has been working on: sexy looking effects, planets, fleet Escort designs, etc.!

Should any of the videos or images not work correctly, or if you just want to see them all in a single easy location, you can check out the Imgur album for this update too: https://imgur.com/a/0R6fB

To begin with, planet design is going very well our rendering pipeline for planets aims to produce a recent apocalyptic theme through rendering the low atmosphere, dynamic volumetric clouds, defusing emissive textures through the clouds, and planetary shadows. Below are a few examples we have made to see the results.

Here we can see the kind of surface work that can be done to planets, popping out terrain within atmospheric effects and some very contrasting light. The atmosphere and clouds influences how the light along the surface’s horizon spreads.

In another example with a closer look we can see the atmosphere layer more closely and how light sources will cast shadows over the terrain and threw the clouds themselves. We are using placeholder objects to cast shadows, expect things like supercities, ruins, and large superstructures.

Within this third example the atmosphere itself is effected based on light sources on the surface, clouds above the orange-red surface lighting diffuse what light is beneath.

We will also show our work with the initial demo ship lineup, some of the effects are temporary or likely to change and we are interesting in hearing from you about what you think about both planetary effects and ship effects.

The smallest hull size, the Frigate is a unit that will be controlled in a flock, a group of more than one hull existing as a single unit. The player’s commander for this unit works for the whole flock, the combined firepower is still light as the hull does not have much room for many weapons.

This second frigate is a variant which arrives in larger flock numbers, likely cheaper to replace.

These fabulous pink fluffs are torpedoes that belong to a activatable ability that your Flagship can trigger. They are currently pink so we can easily make out where they are and how they behave.

Destroyers also come in flocks, pairs. The hull size allowing for at least one stronger weapon system which can allow for a more specialized role. The K7 shown above has some cannons for some greater range and punch over the frigate; however, the torpedoes are its strong point.

In contrast, the MB2 destroyer has more punch with their cannons. What is not shown are the CWIS weapons equipped for supporting the fleet against fighters, torpedoes, and missiles.

The cruiser is the small single hull unit that can fill a wide variety of roles for low cost. The D2 showsmart-rocket n above has the cannons comparable to an MB2 destroyer, torpedoes like the K7, and pods.

Battleships are much tougher for their reduced mobility and acceleration; however, their firepower makes a great addition to the fleet. The 2B battleship shown above brings a mix of heavy cannons, four torpedoes, light missiles, and large laser beams.

The MB1 battleship brings much more cannon fire, especially with the hull mounted siege cannon.

The R5 dreadnaught opts for fewer, certainly but brighter weapons, firing beams of different sizes. The heavy beam cannons shown in the blue-green are a copy of the Flagship’s and we will be tweaking the scale of the effects to match the hull’s size and weapon mounts.

The current plan for unit combat speeds can be seen above, the unit max combat speeds are close to each other’s; however, larger ship hulls take longer to accelerate to their top speed. Within the distance from one end of the screen to the other is about the amount of room for the Flagship and dreadnaughts to fully accelerate. Within close range engagements, smaller hulls will be able to reposition and maneuver more. Yet, over long distances the fleet’s bigger hulls will be able to keep pace.

Well, that’s it for this update. As always, please join us on our Discord channel. It is really easy to join, and the quickest way to talk to us about the game, or any other topic you feel like talking about. Lots of Sci-fi nerds there to get in touch with: https://discord.gg/TGRBxyq